The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-10-13

:pened, Of course, to every man.
= Then sat and thought while, and
finally reused out Madison.
s.You take my turn I said to him;
sI'm going home"
tNot brute that will travel."
tsI'l do my own trayeliDg-on foot"
"You'n pass in your checks before
morning. -
s.No, the wind is. at my back; no fords;
I'll keep going;" and I went.
Went; half running, with the wind
driving me on till I was ready to drop.
OnceI fell and lay there with the wind
dragging and tearing at me till I began to
grow sleepy, and then I had to get up and
go ahead again.
Perhaps you never tried crossing o
prairie at night without trail to follow.
It's q curious thing, one I cannot account
for; one that makes you feel as 1t your
body and all your senses were of no more
account than q spent cartridge. 1t hap
pened to me that night, space and time
seemed to get all mixed up together all at
once racing along; it seemed to me that I
had been keeping up that sort Of thing for
hours. I felt 30 edrift somehow--so hor-
ribly lost-as If had slipped out of my
self and was out in space without land
mark to measure anything by. expect
you'll have to try it yourself to know
what mean. had mo watch; there was
no way Of knowing how much time had
gone. OF all the devils that can enter
into man uncertainty is the worst.
Every sort of fancy came into my head.
Perhaps did not know the route as well
as il had thought. Perhaps ! had even
passed the cabins and was going away
from them with every step. 4 ought to
!; have reached them in three hours at the
utmost. It seemed to me that had been
hurling along for twice three hours.
Once tried madly to fight back into the
wind. It:was hopeless, worse than use
less. Ishould drop with exhaustion in s
few minutes, and ] must keep going.
And then I found burned grass under
my feet. There had been fire over the
prairie The ground was not cold yet. A
new dread got hold Of mo. Who knew
where it had gone or what had stood in its
track? Iran along screaming something
praying swearing quite mad, think,
for Il little, till fell again, and the jar
brought me to my senses.
7 had gone over the edge Of an old buff
falo run scooped deep by the rush of sum-
mer rains. lay still for little while. !
must have gone to sleep, or perhaps I
famed away Anyway, when came to
myself again the world was as still as the
grave.
The wind had gone down, as it will
sometimes, suddenly and entirely. The
silence was horrible. got on my feet
stiff and benumbed. In all that gray, still,
ghastly space. there was nothing to tell
east from west or north from south. Twas
lost on the big range.
It was still enough, but the cold was
dangerous. I could not stop. I aust
move somewhere. must make myself a
purpose purpose to keep myself alive
at least-till daylight came.
I began walking; it did not matter In
what direction. If only my strength
held out till morning strength to keep
off that horrible drowsiness. I know I
stumbled heavily along. was thinking
about Molly and her baby; 1t all seemed
like dull dream.
And then bells began to ring; deep and
soft and far Off. T stopped in my tracks
to listen. Itwas the sound Of bells, GER
tain, full and sweet; and turned and
went blindly on, following the sound as
hound might follow scent.
All at once saw light. 1t wasn't
star; there were no stars. And nobody
lived on the big range, unless some
camper was travelling about, and travellers
don't travel in the teeth of norther.
And this light swung and waved, went
out entirely for second or two and then
burned up again. And near or far
could not tell, only it was light and 1t
moved, and followed it. And I could
hear the bells all the time.
Then, all at once, another one Of Molly's
Bible verses flashed into my head; some
thing about '.star in the east that went
before them till it came and stood over
the place where the young child lay"
Well, I wasn't wise man, or
shouldn't have got in such fix. don't
think am an irreverent kind Of fellow,
either; man could live with Molly many
years and be that. Only I was looking
for young child too, and babies-lttle
ones-always did seem to me near enough
to heaven to make that story about the
star reasonable enough. Anyway, there 1t
was, meant for me or not, and fol-
lowed It.
More than once fell, but always got
ND and went on I was talking to myself
part Of the time, hearing my own voice
and thinking it was some one else's. l
lost my sense of time again, but kept on
aoggedly; and then, suddenly, til. light
flashed brighter, whirled about in Wild
sort OF q way, and went out entirely.
Il eave a shout and ran forward. !
thouItht I should die If lost 1t. And
there was standing on wide trail, with
q sort Of square dark shape standing up
in the dimness before me, with light and
voices coming out Of the chinks, and
somehow, there was the door, and my
hand on the latch, and in another second
-ohi it was Molly-Molly with . lamp
in her hand, bending over feeding box
made into cradle, with great armfu
Of hay and white sheepskin for cover,
and Madison's wife kneeling on one side
and Clayton's wife on the other, and be-
yond, with the lights flashing in their
great, wandering, shining eyes, pair OF
astonished horses. And then there came
n piping cry from the feeding trough, and
/ knsw I bad found the baby,
Burned outp Yes, sir. That was the
last thing; but they had had warning be-
fore the fire came on them. Jim